News: News 11-03-2019

11-03-2019

Club Nights

Club nights continue every week 7:30 to 9:30 with Men on Monday, Women now on Wednesday and Mixed on Thursday. New members are always welcome to come along and get started. Last week was a bit of a washout because of the rain and wind but it cleared up enough on Wednesday for the women to play and have a great night’s tennis. The doubles was won by Laura Hunt and Sine McFarlane; runners-up were Michelle Culligan and Carmel Hayes with super tennis also on display from Oonagh Collins and Anne O’Sullivan. Great to see that the change to Wednesday seems to have re-vitalised Woman’s night.

Senior Spring Leagues

Due to the recent inclement weather, the leagues are falling behind schedule so players are reminded that the deadline for completion of all matches is March 28. Hopefully members will arrange their games over the next few days and get back on track.

Athlone Tennis Club were represented last weekend at the Connacht Senior Indoor Doubles by the strong pairings of Lisa Brennan / Paula Dowling in the Women’s and by Paula Dowling / Peter Agbanobi in the Mixed. Both teams performed admirably in a high standard of completion. No doubt they enjoyed the pleasure of playing indoors at this time of year. Congratulation to Tim Clarke on his victory in the Rank 2 section of the Connacht Singles Championship last Saturday. Tim won a five-set thriller, saving a match point in the process to win his semi-final and followed up later in the day with a convincing straight sets win in the final. Jeremy Clarke reached the quarter final of the Rank 1 section before succumbing to high quality opposition. Well done to all above.

Both these competitions were played indoors, under a dome in Galway and Castlebar respectively. More facilities like this are urgently needed throughout the country to promote the game nationwide.

100 and Counting

Roger Federer became the first man to reach the astonishing milestone of 100 APT titles with his stunning victory in Dubai. At 37, the great man continues to astound with his brilliant attacking brand of tennis. When the poet, Keats declared that “A thing of beauty is a joy forever” he was surely thinking of the Federer forehand!

One to Watch

Roger cannot last forever and we are constantly searching for the next young man to pick up the mantle as the game’s superstar. Step forward Felix Auger-Aliassime. Remember the name; the 18 year old Canadian has everything needed to go right to the top of the sport. Coincidently, he shares a birth date (19 years apart) with the GOAT. Both are currently playing in the first Master’s 1000 event of the year in Indian Wells.